''Harold'' is a 2008 American
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
co-written by Greg Fields and
T. Sean Shannon, starring
Spencer Breslin
Spencer Breslin (born May 18, 1992) is an American actor and musician. He is the older brother of actress Abigail Breslin. Beginning at the age of three, Breslin acted in over 50 commercials. He is best known for his roles in the feature films ...
in the titular role,
Cuba Gooding Jr.
Cuba Mark Gooding Jr. (born January 2, 1968) is an American actor. He is the recipient of an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and an Emmy nomination.
After his breakthrough role as Tre Styles in ''Boyz n the Hood'' (1991), he appear ...
,
Nikki Blonsky
Nicole Blonsky (born November 9, 1988) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and internet personality. She is known for playing Tracy Turnblad in the film ''Hairspray'' (2007), for which she won two Critics' Choice Awards and received nominati ...
,
Ally Sheedy
Alexandra Elizabeth Sheedy (born June 13, 1962) is an American actress. Following her film debut in 1983's '' Bad Boys'', she became known as one of the Brat Pack group of actors and starred in ''WarGames'' (1983), ''The Breakfast Club'' (1985) ...
and
Stella Maeve
Stella Maeve Johnston is an American film and television actress. Highlights include a starring role in '' The Runaways'' (2010), a two-season recurring role in NBC television's '' Chicago P.D.'', and a main role in SyFy television's '' The Mag ...
. It is Shannon's first full-length
feature film
A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...
and is partially adapted from his earlier
short film
A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...
, which itself was adapted from one of his ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
'' sketches. It was also released six years after the death of Greg Fields.
''Harold'' was filmed in August 2007 in and around
Great Neck
Great Neck is a region on Long Island, New York, that covers a peninsula on the North Shore and includes nine villages, among them Great Neck, Great Neck Estates, Great Neck Plaza, Kings Point, and Russell Gardens, and a number of unincor ...
,
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
, New York, and received a limited release on July 11, 2008, in Los Angeles, Miami, and New York City.
Plot
Harold Clemens is a 16-year-old boy with early
male pattern baldness
Pattern hair loss (also known as androgenetic alopecia (AGA)) is a hair loss condition that primarily affects the top and front of the scalp. In male-pattern hair loss (MPHL), the hair loss typically presents itself as either a receding front ha ...
. Harold seems to cope all right in his hometown of Douglas, until his mom, Maureen, announces that the family is moving to a new house in Fredericksburg due to a promotion at her job. Harold panics, because he had somewhat fit in with everyone at his old school, despite his baldness.
When he arrives in his new house, Harold is met by an elderly new neighbor, Maude, who assumes Harold is older because of his baldness, and starts flirting with him. Harold starts at his new school, and because he initially wears a hat into class, he is seemingly accepted, especially by a girl, Evelyn, whom he briefly flirts with. When the teacher, Ms. Vicki Norris, notices him wearing a hat, he is forced to take it off, thus revealing that he is bald. Instantly he is ostracized by the other students, including Evelyn, and especially the school bullies—including the ringleader, Brad Denison.
Harold sees that some of the students ride go-karts to school, including Brad, and he asks his mother for one for his birthday; however, he instead receives a battery powered riding cart (the kind elderly people use) given to them by Maude, who had recently bought a newer model for herself. Harold is disappointed, but uses it anyway.
Harold's older sister, Shelley, has started high school in the new town as an immensely popular and flirty cheerleader. She meets a boy named Patrick and they quickly start dating, which leads to Patrick assuming that Harold is Shelley's father. Harold initially uses this to prank Patrick, threatening him should he mess with Harold's "lovely daughter" on their date, but Shelley angrily reveals the truth to Patrick. At first Patrick and his friends are mad at Harold, but Harold offers to make up for it by buying the boys some beer. When it works, Patrick's attitude toward Harold eases up.
Harold is bullied relentlessly by students. One of the few nice people is Cromer Styles, the school janitor. While in gym class, the bullying rears its ugly head and the coach joins in. Cromer comes to the rescue when he announces Harold is wanted in the office. That was just a decoy – Cromer and Harold watch TV in the janitor's room.
Harold returns home, angry and upset, and decides to go back to his old home, where everyone liked him. He leaves late at night so that his Mom and sister won't get suspicious. He only makes it as far as a
strip bar. Harold thinks that because he looks older, he may pass for legal age, but Cromer is there as well, and he takes Harold home. He gives Harold words of encouragement, and then drops him off at home.
The next day in gym class, Harold is asked to take his shirt off as part of the Skins and Shirts team. He has a big strip of hair on his back, and everyone starts laughing at him. He talks to Cromer, and they decide to pull a prank on the coach, flushing the locker room toilets to overheat the water when the coach is in the shower.
Not wanting to go back to school, Harold buys a few beers for himself, and is followed by Maude, who still thinks that he is much older. When he tells her he is 14, she thinks that means the size of his manhood. When he explains he is only 14 years old, she is shocked, thinking he simply had good skin for an old man. She tells him to come back in a year.
Patrick and his buddies ask Harold for one more favor: to get them some beer for a party. Harold agrees, but only if they allow him to join them at the party, which they accept. Harold buys the beer, but while chatting with the boys at the party he is arrested by police, who believe him to be a major selling beer to minors. They do not believe him when he tells them that he is only fourteen. He is taken to the local police station and locked up with other inmates.
Later that night, Patrick encounters Shelley and tells her what happened to Harold. She is shocked and gets angry at Patrick for not helping Harold. She refuses to stay at the party with him, instead rushing off to get her mother and help her brother. Before she reaches the house, however, Harold is given a phone call, and talks to Cromer at the strip bar. Cromer bails him out, and drops Harold off at home, where Harold finds Shelley trying to decide whether or not to tell their mother about Harold or try helping him on her own to avoid getting him in trouble; she is relieved when she sees he is all right, and promises to keep it secret from their mother. The two become more friendly after this.
Patrick apologizes to Shelley the next day at school for what happened, and woos her by saying he is falling in love with her. Secretly betting with his friends about whether he can get Shelley to have sex with him before the school dance, it looks like the odds are in his favor again when Shelley falls for his romantic words. However, in the coming days, it is clear Shelley's under a lot of pressure when Patrick reveals his intentions. He threatens to take another girl to the motel room he's booked if she doesn't go with him. Harold finds Shelley crying in her room later, and she tells him the truth. Shelley tells Harold she doesn't really want to have sex, and is feeling too pressured by Patrick. Harold, recognizing Patrick the same way he sees Brad and his pack at school, decides to get revenge on him with Cromer for using Shelley. Shelley tells Patrick she has decided to go with him to the motel after all, pretending to agree to sleeping with him; they arrive there at night with Harold and Cromer waiting off to the side in the shadows. While Patrick is off to get sodas for them, Cromer helps Shelley out a back window, and when Patrick returns, the lights are off, and he has no idea that they have replaced Shelley with Maude. Patrick ends up having sex with her, and then runs out screaming when she turns on the lights and reveals herself. Patrick's friends, watching from a car out front, laugh at him.
Some of the kids at school hear how Harold was arrested and he begins to have it a little easier. However, Brad and his crew aren't finished; they write Harold a fake note from Evelyn, asking him out to the upcoming dance, and then they humiliate him when he shows up. Evelyn, none the wiser, reveals in confusion that she was supposed to meet a high school boy named Kevin at the dance. Harold walks out in a funk and snaps at Rhonda, a classmate who genuinely likes him, when she runs out to try to talk to him, and he leaves on his cart.
There is a
go-kart
A go-kart, also written as go-cart (often referred to as simply a kart), is a type of sports car, close wheeled car, open-wheel car or quadracycle. Go-karts come in all shapes and forms, from non-motorised models to high-performance Kart rac ...
race coming up, and Cromer decides Harold should enter. He soups up Harold's riding cart, adding a real engine to it which he removed from a school tractor. After they test it and balance out the defects, it's all ready for the race. The coach tries to tell Cromer that Harold can't enter due to safety regulations as his cart does not pass, but Cromer retaliates by threatening to tell the principal about some "funny things" Cromer found on the coach's browsing history in his office. Even though he's just making that up, the coach falls for it and backs off, allowing Harold in.
The bullies have entered the race and see that Harold is competing. They decide to sabotage his cart so he will crash; they secretly loosen the lug nuts on one wheel. During the race, the wheel pops off and the lug nuts all scatter; Harold and Cromer are shocked and think there's nothing they can do, but Shelley steps in and simply tells them to remove a single lug nut from the other three wheels and put them on the fallen wheel. Cromer does this, and Harold enters the race, still maintaining his balance. Brad, close to winning the race, sees Harold back in action and puts a dent in Harold's cart in order to slow him down. Rhonda, seeing this, comes up from behind and bashes the rear of Brad's cart, causing him to crash into the haystacks at the edge of the track. Brad is out of the picture, and Harold has pulled ahead of most of the contestants except for Brad's friends. A lady from the crowd, who happens to be a stripper at the bar Harold went to, shows her breasts to the bullies in order to distract them, enabling Harold to win the race, and, ultimately, the respect of the school. Harold receives a trophy, the coach congratulates him, and one of Brad's friends apologizes to him.
Maude meets one of the men cheering Harold on, who turns out to be Reedy, one of the regulars at the strip bar, and the two become enamored with each other. Evelyn kisses Harold and congratulates him, but Harold turns away from her, telling her to save that for Kevin. Back at home, he sees Reedy has moved in with Maude. Harold says hi to them and a few other neighbors along the way to Rhonda's house, where he greets her to take her out for a walk around town.
Cast
*
Spencer Breslin
Spencer Breslin (born May 18, 1992) is an American actor and musician. He is the older brother of actress Abigail Breslin. Beginning at the age of three, Breslin acted in over 50 commercials. He is best known for his roles in the feature films ...
as Harold Clemens
*
Cuba Gooding Jr.
Cuba Mark Gooding Jr. (born January 2, 1968) is an American actor. He is the recipient of an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and an Emmy nomination.
After his breakthrough role as Tre Styles in ''Boyz n the Hood'' (1991), he appear ...
as Cromer Styles
*
Nikki Blonsky
Nicole Blonsky (born November 9, 1988) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and internet personality. She is known for playing Tracy Turnblad in the film ''Hairspray'' (2007), for which she won two Critics' Choice Awards and received nominati ...
as Rhonda Baxter
*
Ally Sheedy
Alexandra Elizabeth Sheedy (born June 13, 1962) is an American actress. Following her film debut in 1983's '' Bad Boys'', she became known as one of the Brat Pack group of actors and starred in ''WarGames'' (1983), ''The Breakfast Club'' (1985) ...
as Maureen Clemens
*
Stella Maeve
Stella Maeve Johnston is an American film and television actress. Highlights include a starring role in '' The Runaways'' (2010), a two-season recurring role in NBC television's '' Chicago P.D.'', and a main role in SyFy television's '' The Mag ...
as Shelly Clemens
*
Suzanne Shepherd
Suzanne "Honey" Shepherd is an American actress and theater director.
Education
Shepherd studied acting with Sanford Meisner, and later went on to teach Meisner's program of acting study, the first woman to do so.
Career
She was a founding me ...
as Maude Sellers
*
Fred Willard
Frederic Charles Willard (September 18, 1933 May 15, 2020) was an American actor, comedian, and writer. He was best known for his roles in the Rob Reiner mockumentary film ''This Is Spinal Tap'' (1984); the Christopher Guest mockumentaries ''Wai ...
as Dr. Richard Pratt
*
Rachel Dratch
Rachel Susan Dratch (born February 22, 1966) is an American actress, comedian, and writer. After she graduated from Dartmouth College she moved to Chicago to study improvisational theatre at The Second City and ImprovOlympic.
Her breakthrough ro ...
as Ms. Norris
*
Chris Parnell
Thomas Christopher Parnell (; born February 5, 1967) is an American actor and comedian. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1998 to 2006 and played the role of Dr. Leo Spaceman on ''30 Rock''. In animation, he voices Cyril Figgis ...
as Coach Vanderpool
*
Elizabeth Gillies
Elizabeth Egan Gillies (born July 26, 1993) is an American actress and singer. She gained prominence for her starring roles as Jade West in the Nickelodeon series ''Victorious'' (2010–2013), and as Fallon Carrington on The CW revival of ''D ...
as Evelyn Taylor
*
Dave Attell
David Attell (born January 18, 1965) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer best known as the host of Comedy Central's ''Insomniac with Dave Attell'', which earned him a cult following. His work has drawn admiration from many comedi ...
as Barker
* Daniel Farcher (credited as Dan "Dietz" Farcher) as Brad Denison
* Wass Stevens as Buck
* Derek Nelson as Mason
* Robert Gorrie as Patrick
* Dylan Snyder as Dylan
*
Alan Aisenberg
Alan Aisenberg (born March 18, 1993) is an American actor and television producer. He is best known for his role as Baxter Bayley on the Netflix original series ''Orange Is the New Black''.
Life and career
Aisenberg was raised in Englewood Cli ...
as Malcolm
*
Paul Thornton
The Godz were a New York City-based avant-noise psychedelic music, psychedelic band that originally existed from 1966 to 1973.
History
The Godz musicians were guitarist Jim McCarthy, bassist Larry Kessler, autoharpist Jay Dillon, and drumme ...
as Mr. Kahane
* Angel Sing as Chang
*
Colin Quinn
Colin Edward Quinn (born June 6, 1959) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. Quinn first gained widespread attention for his work as a cast member and writer for the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1995 to 2 ...
as Reedy
*
Nicky Katt
Nicky Katt (born May 11, 1971) is an American actor. Katt often plays unsympathetic characters, such as an irascible motorhead in ''Dazed and Confused,'' an ill-fated white supremacist child rapist in ''A Time to Kill'', and an embittered bu ...
as Police officer #1
*
Lathan Mckay as Officer Shannon
*
Nicola Peltz
Nicola Anne Peltz Beckham (born January 9, 1995) is an American actress. Primarily known for her roles in dramatic film and television, she has performed in some blockbuster adaptations and has since been nominated for a Young Hollywood Award. Sh ...
as Becki
Reception
''Harold'' received negative reviews from critics. On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, it holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 10%, based on reviews from five critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike".
''
New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com.
It was established ...
'' film critic Lou Lumenick praised Breslin's role as the title character and called the movie overall "a genuine oddity that's more watchable than it sounds. Robert Abele from the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' criticized Shannon for following the "three-minute-idea mind-set" of ''Saturday Night Live'' when directing his script that's filled with humorless high school ridicule, "fogey-dom signposts", and elderly women gags, calling the film "a disingenuous, one-note underdog portrait." Nathan Lee, writing for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', called the film a "cinematic black hole" for heavily relying on its "single, repetitive, aggressively tedious joke" about a teenager being mocked for his physical and mental geriatric features, saying that: "''Harold'' is the type of one-note dead zone ideally suited for a bathroom break while sitting home on a Saturday night, alone and semidrunk, in front of the television. At feature length it's enough to make you tear your hair out."
References
External links
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{{Saturday Night Live
2008 films
2008 comedy films
2008 directorial debut films
2000s American films
2000s coming-of-age comedy films
2000s English-language films
2000s high school films
2000s teen comedy films
American coming-of-age comedy films
American high school films
American teen comedy films
Films about bullying
Films shot in New York (state)
Saturday Night Live films